Monthly Challenge - October (Patreon)

Hi everyone,

For October’s challenge, I thought we’d try something a little different and turn our attention to shiny metal.

Just a quick note before you begin: this is a painting challenge rather than a tutorial. There isn’t a step-by-step video to follow. The idea is to use the reference photo, make your own decisions and put some of the skills you’ve been learning into practice.

The reference photo looks quite simple, but there’s plenty here to work on. The main thing is not to get caught up in every little scratch and reflection. Try half closing your eyes or looking through your lashes at the reference. This will help you see the larger shapes of light, dark and colour more clearly.

A few tips before you begin:

I wouldn’t make the cast shadows too dark. They should complement the cutlery rather than overpower it.

Masking fluid may be useful for reserving some of the brightest white highlights.

Photographs can exaggerate dark values, particularly in shadows, so you don’t need to copy every dark exactly as you see it. Having said that, keep some strong darks within the cutlery itself, because that contrast is what helps the metal look shiny.

There’s no need to paint all the scratches. Simplify them, or leave them out altogether.

Look for the warmer reflected colours, particularly on the spoon, but also on the fork and lower parts of the handles.

Pay attention to soft edges as well as hard ones. Not every reflection needs to be sharply defined.

Don’t think of the cutlery as simply grey. Look for the individual shapes of light, dark and colour within it.

If you find some of the very fine outer edges difficult to paint, you could use a sharp graphite pencil sparingly instead.

If painting all three pieces feels a little too taxing, just choose one. The spoon would make a lovely little painting on its own and will still give you plenty of practice painting reflections and shiny metal.

Try to think of the cutlery as a collection of shapes, values and reflected colours rather than a spoon, fork and knife. Simplify what you see, and don’t feel you have to include everything in the photograph.

The line drawing and reference photo are attached below. Post a photo of your finished painting in the ‘Chat’ section of Patreon in the 'Monthly Challenges' section so we can find them easily.

Louise